Shana shares her usually nightly ritual before going to sleep and explains how drinking caffeine affects her insomnia.

Shana:
I get ready for bed early so that I am relaxed and I can fall asleep and I start to get tired anyway, and I start to watch TV and I always make sure not to be on a computer after like a certain amount of time because I realize I get caught up on chatting online or reading emails, so I try to stay away from the computer and then I usually lay in bed and I sleep with a sleep sound – that usually helps me stay asleep. It’s just white noise.

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Instead of using a clock in my room I use my phone. So I set my phone alarm on and I put my phone on silent in the middle of the night and then I turn the phone face down on the floor so that I can’t look at the time, I don’t have the anxiety of knowing what time it is and if I am asleep yet or how many hours of sleep I will have the next day. That helps a little bit definitely.

One thing that has actually helped me is reading while I am in bed. That seems to make me tired usually if I am, I’m calmed down but the actual getting to be calmed down and relaxed in bed is difficult.

I usually have at least one caffeinated beverage every day, whether it’s coffee in the morning or an energy drink, and I always make sure to stop having anything after 3:00 p.m. That’s usually what is suggested so that you can be able to sleep at night.

I have definitely tried not having caffeine and it still just doesn’t seem to, I think my main problem is just that my mind races. I can’t ever just sit down and relax. I always have to be doing something or making lists in my head and it still goes with me at night when I am laying down. I can never just turn off my head and relax.